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Mega Millions by the numbers

Mega Millions

Mega Millions actually started in 1996 as “The Big Game.”
It wasn’t until several years later that it became known as Mega Millions.

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There was a jackpot winner in the very first Mega Millions drawing on May 17, 2002. The result was a $27 million winning ticket in Chicago.
There was a second jackpot winner just one week later. There were two jackpot winners within the first three Mega Millions drawings.
More than 200 million tickets were sold (at $1 per ticket) for the then-record $390 million jackpot on March 6, 2007.
Mega Millions has awarded 10 jackpots of more than $300 million, including a record $656 million in March 2012, which was the world's largest jackpot until January 2016.

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It only took 68 drawings (34 weeks) for Mega Millions to sell its 1 billionth ticket on January 7, 2003.
Mega Millions ticket sales reached 2 billion tickets just 67 drawings later (33.5 weeks) on August 29, 2003.
The third billionth ticket came just 49 drawings later (24.5 weeks).
From inception through early December, 2013, more than 29 billion Mega Millions tickets were sold.
Since the game was relaunched in October 2013, jackpots have been won in more than a dozen states, including Georgia, California , Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas and Washington.
During the same period, second-tier $1 million (or more with the Megaplier) prizes have been won in almost all jurisdictions where the game is sold.

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Larger states such as California and New York have had the most Match 5 winning tickets, but these big prizes have also been won in many jurisdictions with the smallest American lotteries, such as Delaware, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and the District of Columbia.
Since October 2013, to date there have been more than 476 million winning tickets sold at all prize levels.
In calendar year 2014, there were nine Mega Millions jackpots awarded, ranging from a high of $414 million (split between winners in Florida and Maryland) down to $20 million (won in New York).
In calendar year 2015, eight Mega Millions jackpots were won, three at levels of $200 million or more (two in Illinois and one in Ohio). 

This information came from the official Mega Millions website. CLICK HERE for more.

[CLICK HERE to visit WSBTV.com's official lottery homepage with updated results]

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